Hi all,
I have a gold coloured eagle, that I did a density test on (by weighing in water and air). The result was 10.13, certainly not pure gold. I’ve had it for a couple of years, and it shows no signs of tarnish. It has no markings; but does have a very slight attraction to an earth magnet. It will bend, but not easily. I suppose the nitric acid test would be the next step; but I do not have any. Any thoughts on what it might be?
Thanks,
… john
It’s probably a lead alloy.
If there’s any gold in it it will likely be gold plate. Try small scratch in an inconspicuous place.
beowulff - like pot metal?
Quartz - Yes, good idea. I should have thought of it. It does show a shiny silvery surface when scratched, so it’s likely a lead alloy. (I suppose it could be silver.) In any event, there’s likely no more gold than the coating.
Thanks,
… john
Okay, okay, I’ll do it.
You sure it’s not a falcon, from Malta, perhaps?
There. It’s done. Move on.
10.13 in which units? For instance silver is 10.5 g/cm[sup]3[/sup] How confident are you that the item is solid?
I read the OP as referring to an $10 eagle coin, and that the OP was wondering whether it is counterfeit, but now I’m wondering if it instead refers to a statuette of a bird.
Yeah, I was assuming eagle coin, too.
That’s weird because I assumed statuette.
Without markings says the OP. A coin would have markings.
The OP may have a “souvenir” (lifelike!) recreation of the original. The scam revolves around gilding a 24 carat glaze upon a semi-realistic slug representing the real thing. Essentially worthless.
More likely nickel; lead would actually be slightly repelled by a magnet.
Wouldn’t that depend upon the pole of the magnet, as oriented to the item?
Lead is definitely cheaper than nickel… And thrift is definitely a driving factor in any scam.
Shortly: no. Here is a source.
I definitely remember this because a large portion of the (otherwise, sadly, mostly forgotten!) part of the “determination of G” experiment I did in high school involved bringing a torsion pendulum (consisting of a pair of leaden balls mounted on a string) to rest with the help of magnets)!
Assuming the OP’s density is in gm/cm^3, Nickel isn’t dense enough.
It’s possible that this is a sandwich of some ferrous material with a lead or tungsten alloy.
It’s also possible that there is a Nickel layer on top of the base metal to promote the gold plate, which is a pretty standard process.
Interesting. I stand corrected re lead’s interaction with any strong magnetic force, positive or negative. Strong being key here.
However, I doubt the OP was referring to laboratory conditions in his assessment procedure, so I doubt that his observation necessarily rules out a lead alloy (perhaps high in iron?), nor indicates it must be predominantly a nickel alloy. Who knows? Again, lead is more cost effective than nickel.